Record rainfall in June

Last Wednesday, Colville resident Krystal Anderson, 32, flexed her toes in her flip-flops and did a slow, casual spin, showing off her khaki shorts.
“I can finally wear these without worrying about being cold or wet, so in my mind, this is the first day of summer,” said Anderson. Anderson echoed a sentiment shared by many in the Colville valley and surrounding com¬munities, what with record breaking amounts of rain for the area dominating the month of June.
According to National Weather Service Meteorologist Jeff Cote of the Spokane Of¬fice, the Colville valley re¬ceived over 6.09 inches of pre¬cipitation for the month of June, shattering the previous benchmark of 5.52 inches for the same month in 1984.
Precipitation is 4.16 inches above normal for the area this time of year, said Cote.
For Sherman Creek Or¬chard, the consistent precipi¬tation somewhat mirrors last year’s growing season for cherries. On one hand, said owner Rich Robinson, there has been no need for irriga¬tion with the constant rainfall. On the other, he has had to keep a close eye on his seven acres of cherry trees for issues associated with the excessive moisture.
“We’ve pushed our picking date for cherries back to July 15 in the hope that we’ll get more sun,” said Robinson. “If it keeps up (the rain) another week, we could start to see splits in the fruit. We didn’t have late frosts this year though, so that’s good.”
Robinson said Sherman Creek harvests an average of 40,000 pounds of cherries per year. He estimated this year’s harvest to be somewhere between 30,000 to 35,000 pounds.
The forecast for July may see a return to the seasonably warm, “fun-in-the-sun” type weather that people expect during the summer months, said Cote.
“The official forecast for this month is expected to be below average precipitation and near average temperatures that are associated with the Colville valley for the season,” Cote said.
Forecast for Colville:

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 82.
Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 53.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 88.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 55.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 89.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 55.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 91.